Manager of Procurement at Emirates Engineering and bookworm Daniel LeBlanc tells us who he’s excited to see at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature: Douglas Coupland whose first novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture popularised the actual term ‘Generation X’, and award-winning Chinese sci-fi writer Cixin Liu, author of the award-winning The Three Body Problem.

Co-host Natalie Madison tells us about two more highlights from the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature programme that she’s excited about: A spoken word artist with recognition from the likes of Emeli Sande, and an entrepreneur on a mission to make the business world a more compassionate one. We’re joined by author Rehan Khan who’s on his own empathy mission – he’ll be instructing business leaders how to use storytelling and empathy to engage their target audience.

The Wolf is the first novel in Leo Carew’s Under the Northern Sky series, a story about a battle between two warring races: the Anakim and the Sutherners. If you’re looking for some intrigue and underhand power games with a fantasy twist, you might want to make this your next read. Fantasy and historical fiction writer Rehan Khan reviews.

Some inspirational poetry in honour of US poet Mary Oliver who passed away recently, an opportunity to win a year’s supply of free coffee, and a top tip: what you can stop doing immediately to start being more productive if you’re trying to get some reading/work done, courtesy of 2019 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature author Nicola Morgan.

Is the musical pitstop tour of the 2019 Festival sessions all about colours in fiction this week? True.

Economist, corporate writer and bookworm Jonathan Duff is in the studio talking about two books by Festival 2019 authors: The New Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, which takes a fresh look at the network of relationships being formed along the length and breadth of the Silk Roads today. He also reviews The Land Beyond by Leon McCarron, an author who followed a series of wild hiking trails that trace ancient trading and pilgrimage routes and traverse some of the most contested landscapes in the world.

How does reading for therapy work? Gamze Hakli Geray is a published author and psychotherapist and works on the areas where reading, writing and therapy converge. She tells us about the workshops she’ll be conducting at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in March.

After graduating Biological Anthropology, being an explorer at heart, Leo Carew spent a year living and training as an Artic guide before completing his debut novel The Wolf. We spoke to him about this first in his Under the Northern Sky Series and what it feels like to be described as “most likely to become the next George RR Martin by the time he's 30”.

Roudha Al Marri is a modern Emirati and the author of UAE 101: Stories and Cultural Learnings: A Guidebook to Emirati Culture filled with accessible anecdotes and cultural tips. Ifyou’re new to the UAE or have been living in the country for a couple of years and need a refresher to fill in some knowledge gaps, Roudha tells us what you need to know.

Dubai Eye’s very own Richard Dean of the Business Breakfast presenting team joins the show to talk about the book he’s launching at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in March: Crowdpleaser, which compiles 100 of the greatest public speaking tips of all time, from Socrates to Steve Jobs, and plenty of case studies from the Arab World.